Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Goran Hadzic is a Croatian Serb wartime leader indicted for crimes against humanity during the 1991-95 Croatian war. (File photo)
Goran Hadzic, 52, was a key figure in the breakaway Krajina Serb republic in Croatia, and after the arrest of wartime General Ratko Mladic earlier this year, he was Serbia’s last remaining figure sought by the United Nations war crime tribunal in The Hague.
A Serbian official confirmed the arrest but declined to give details. President Boris Tadic, who announced the arrest of Mr. Mladic in May, scheduled an urgent news conference for 11 a.m. (0900 GMT).
Mr. Hadzic is charged with ordering the killing of hundreds and the deportation of thousands of Croats and other non-Serbs from his region of Croatia.
“He is much more discrete than the others in terms of personality and what he did,” said Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, a member of European Parliament who served with UN forces in the region of Croatia where Hadzic was a regional leader. “He was not a particularly notable personality.”
Mr. Hadzic was a physically imposing figure however at 1.85 meters tall with a full dark beard during the war years.
EU sought his arrest
The European Union, which hailed Belgrade for finding Mr. Mladic in May, has continued to insist on the arrest of Mr. Hadzic for Serbia to make progress towards European Union membership.
“Twenty years after the start of the wars of Yugoslav disintegration an important chapter in the history of the region is closed when the last person indicted for war crimes by the UN Tribunal is arrested,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, a former EU and UN Envoy to the region.
“I warmly congratulate Serbia.”
Mr. Hadzic lived openly in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad until July 13, 2004, when The Hague sent an indictment and arrest warrant to Belgrade. He fled immediately, tipped off by nationalist hardliners in Serbia's security services.
His escape was kept a secret for days, while relatives said he was at home and police denied having orders to arrest him. The Hague later made public surveillance pictures showing him leaving his house with a bag on the afternoon of July 13.
Mr. Hadzic also gained notoriety for his involvement in murky deals including illegal exports of oak, wine and crude oil from a well under Serb control. He was frequently seen in the company of Zeljko “Arkan” Raznatovic, a paramilitary leader and head of Belgrade's underworld at the time.
Recent experience with Mr. Mladic suggests it could take several days before Mr. Hadzic is extradited to The Hague. Nerma Jelacic, a spokeswoman for the Yugoslavia tribunal in The Hague, declined to comment.
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